Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of PM’s speech at the Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards function at Central Hall of Parliament
All the distinguished dignitaries present here,
First of all, I would like to congratulate the 5 award winners from the bottom of my heart. The country must be watching this event on T.V. and wondering that they are the same Parliamentarians whom they see during the day. Even the Vice President and the Speaker Madam must be really delighted to be a witness to this event as everyone is calm and composed. I hope that such a scenario will also exist in both the houses of the Parliament and may we and our Parliamentarians who are associated with the sorrows of the common man, get the opportunity to speak. The government must be compelled to prioritize their issues. The voices of the poor, the villages and the forests must reach the government through these Parliamentarians in such a way that the government too is compelled to empathize with their feelings and work towards addressing those issues. Unfortunately, that opportunity of a Parliamentarian is often lost. He must have attained his field of perfection with a lot of hard work. He is definitely rich in terms of the work done; he is an authority in his own field. However, because of pandemonium, chaos and noise the government per se is not that much affected as much as the country is. It also does tremendous amount of damage to the representatives who have come here after a lot of hardwork and struggle to speak about the problems of the people but are not given the opportunity to speak. Therefore, it is also a loss of that region and the local people of that region to which he belongs. The chaos is shown on the T.V. for a few minutes or an hour or for the entire day. Thereafter, it ends. But, the MP who gets the opportunity to speak, even if he launches a scathing attack on the government, even if he has points to make, his words become a part of the history.
It's the responsibility of everyone to ensure that the words of every Parliamentarian go on record. It's the responsibility of all of us to ensure that the issues related to the villages, poor and farmers, spoken by the Parliamentarians must compel the government to take action. We can create such a scenario in the House. The better the atmosphere is, stronger will be the force to carry our nation ahead.
As per my experience, the Parliamentarians never speak anything that is valueless. Whether one acts on some pressure or not, is a different story; whether someone is compelled to do something for gaining political brownie points or not is a different story;but this leaves a profound mark that forces the policy makers to give it a thought at some point of time. Therefore, it is not easy to be a Parliamentarian. They carry the dreams of 125 crore Indians and the resolutions of the people of their region and with the promise of a bright future. Among those who have got the opportunity to accomplish that task are being honoured today. When our colleagues are honoured, we feel proud that we work with such colleagues. We feel proud that we areco-workers; we are the Parliamentarians in the same time period. It is a matter of immense pride and prestige for us.
I once again congratulate you all from the core of my heart and my best wishes are with you.
Thanks a lot!